Merging Lives
by iluvbadmovies
Summary: Dallas and his friend's worlds are turned upsidedown when people from Dal's life in New York show up in Tulsa, bringing with them the truth about Dal's past in NYC.
1. brace yourself

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders, just my OC's.

"Hurry the hell up."

Jessica Daniels rolled her eyes when she heard her best friend, Aubrey Winston, yelling for what seemed like the millionth time. Jessica was twenty years old. Her skin was slightly tanned and she was average height, 5'8''. She had long light brown hair and green eyes. She wore tight dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a leather jacket. She had on a pair of black converse sneakers and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She dressed like a New York bad boy except she was a bad girl.

"I'm coming, calm down." She could hear Aubrey huffing downstairs and imagined her flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. Aubrey was twenty-two; she had pale skin and was 5'6''. She seemed taller because she wore heals most of the time. The two of them were nothing alike. Bre had blue eyes and dressed like a girl. She usually had on jeans with low-cut shirts that were some eye-catching color. She spent at least an hour everyday on her hair and makeup while Jess just brushed her's and moved on.

The truth was she had been sitting in the bedroom of her small Brooklyn apartment for the past twenty minutes staring at the floor hoping that Aubrey would just leave without her. They were driving to Tulsa, Oklahoma to see Aubrey's dad and tell him that she was getting married. Jessica had been roped into going due to some best friend code that she was sure Bre had made up but she didn't call her on it. She didn't even understand why she wanted to tell her father, they hadn't spoken in years. Thaddeus Winston had moved to Tulsa five years earlier, he never called, never wrote, it hurt Jess and she wasn't even his real daughter. Maybe she didn't understand the appeal of having your father at your wedding because she didn't have a father, or any family for that matter. The Winstons had been like family to her but now all that was left of that was Aubrey. That's probably why she picked up the black duffel bag lying on the floor next to her feet, slapped on a fake smile and bounded down the stairs.

"I'm ready."

"It's about damb time. I have been waiting here for half an hour."

"Like it will make that big of a difference we still have like a day of driving ahead of us." They walked out the door and Jess locked it behind her before going over to Bre's car, a beat-up old Jeep.

"I know and if we had more money we would fly but we don't so…" Jess nodded and threw her bag into the back while Aubrey got into the drivers seat.

"So I'm stuck in the car with you and your crappy music for the next 24 hours?" Jess responded as she got in the front seat eyeing the CD's on the floor.

"My music is not crappy and it will give us time to talk."

"About what? We talk all the time."

"About seeing my dad, me getting married, what we will do if we see you know who…"

"No I don't know, who?"

Aubrey raised an eyebrow as she started the engine of her car. Jessica knew exactly whom she was talking about, Aubrey's younger brother, Jessica's ex-best friend, Jessica's ex-boyfriend…Dallas Winston.


	2. long and lonely road

Somewhere outside of Louisville, Kentucky

Jess reclined on the hood of the jeep listening to the cars whiz by, it was far more enjoyable than listening Aubrey's rambling and muttering under her breath about how they were lost and it was all her fault. She wasn't sure why Bre was blaming her, sure in her head she was thinking how great it would be if they never made it but the universe rarely granted her wishes. Really, this wouldn't be the wish she would want granted anyway, she would prefer money, a better job or a nicer apartment. Maybe all of those things could be granted if the police lost her rap sheet and she passed a background check, but that would never happen. Her rap sheet was about the length of the Nile River and she knew the NYPD took 'special' care of it.

"Shit" Jess immediatly sat up on the hood of the car and looked at Aubrey. It was getting dark out and someone had just pulled up behind them. She reached for the knife in her pocket and hopped off the hood. Opening the passenger side door she took a gun out of the glove box and tucked it in the back of her jeans. It wasn't that she thought whoever was in the car would hurt them but it was getting dark and they were in the middle of nowhere, you can never be too careful. She walked around the jeep and leaned against the side next to Aubrey. They watched as two middle-aged men exited the car.

"You wanna get back in and run?" Aubrey suggested, she had never been much of a fighter.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I am, we're lost in the middle of nowhere with two creepy men, I say it's time to bail." Jess quickly surveyed the situation they were in. She didn't know what kind of shape the two men were in but there was not enough distance between the two cars for them to make a run for it. The two men could easily run over here and grab them both before they managed to get in the car and drive off, it was better not to tell Aubrey that. Waiting was better, she had more control, if they gave it up by trying to run there would be no getting it back.

"Yeah we are lost, let me get rid of them and then you can go back to your map."

"Fine." Aubrey huffed and flipped her hair, Jess rolled her eyes.

"Do you lovely lady's need some help?" The two men were walking over to them. They were both almost 6' with brown hair. One man was bulkier than the other was and he walked closer while his companion stood back.

"No we're good, but thanks." The smaller of the two continued to keep his distance but his friend continued to move toward them, unaware of the risk the brunette posed.

"Are you sure?" He had a predatory gleam in his eyes that would scare most girls, but not Jess, she had seen it far too many times in her life for it to have an affect on her. However, she could hear Aubrey's deep breathing next to her and knew she was getting nervous.

"Definitely." She watched them both carefully, calculating. Neither man appeared to be armed which was definitely a good thing. The one was still rooted in the same spot and at the moment was no threat to either of the girls. The other one was getting closer, he had at least four inches on her and seemed to be well built, she started fingering the knife in her pocket but outwardly showed no fear.

"What are you two pretty little things doing out here… all alone." She could feel his eyes raking over her body and knew he was doing the same thing to Bre. Jess was used to this kind of man but she knew Aubrey wasn't. She took a few steps towards him making sure to keep a good distance between him and her friend.

"Look, we're fine, just wanted to stretch our legs, you can leave. Now." The man didn't catch the warning in her voice as he stood in front of her and ran his finger down her arm while speaking to her in a low voice.

"We can't leave you here all by yourselves." Jess took a step back as she brushed his arm off at the same time letting go of the knife in her pocket.

"Touch me again and I'll break your arm." He looked at her disbelievingly before touching her arm again. She grabbed onto it and twisted until she heard a crack. He cried out in pain and sank down to his knees. His friend moved towards them so she took the gun out of the back of her jeans. She pointed it at the head of the man in front of her.

"Come any closer and I'll shoot him." The man stopped moving. She walked closer to the man in front of her and pulled his hair so he was looking at her face, "You are going to walk back to your car and drive away. Do anything other than that and I will shoot you. Right. Between. The. Eyes. Understood?" He gave a small nod, his eyes were filled with fear. She pushed him over and took a few steps back. She watched as he scrambled to his feet and ran back to the car. She walked back over to Aubrey, he got in the passenger seat, his friend started the car, and they sped away. Aubrey relaxed against the side of the car.

"I don't know why I was scared, they never stood a chance."

Jess smirked at her before grabbing the map.

"Ok, so we need to figure out why the hell we are in Louisville and how to get to Tulsa from here." The two looked over the map resting on the drivers' seat. Aubrey looked at Jess and wondered how she was so fearless, thanking whoever was listening that she was always there to protect her. Jess sat their thinking about how this could be something else added to her never-ending rap sheet, wishing that she didn't feel the need to fight and that for once in her life she would feel protected.

* * *

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Dallas Winston looked over at his friend moping on the couch. Soda-pop Curtis had been sitting on the couch eating chocolate cake, watching Mickey Mouse almost everyday since his girlfriend Sandy left. Everyone was tired of it but no one wanted to talk to him. Dal plopped down on the couch next to him, he knew he was the wrong person to have this conversation with him but somebody had to do it.

"Hey Soda." Dallas said in his most cheerful voice, it wasn't much but he was trying.

"Hey Dal." Soda replied without turning from the TV.

"Don't you have work?"

"Sick." Soda grunted a response to Dally's question. Almost everything he said these days was in a grunt, like he didn't have the energy or the will to talk normally.

"Are you?" Dallas was tired of his usually cheerful, expressive friend being stoic and uncaring. He decided that he was just going to try to get any reation out of his depressed friend.

"Am I what?" Dallas rolled his eyes as Soda tried to evade the question, he had never been any good at it. Soda usually loved talking so much that he didn't avoid any topic, so he had absolutly no practice at dodging his friends questions.

"Sick, stupid." Soda sighed before answering.

"No."

"Then why are you at home watching Mickey Mouse at 11:30 on a Tuesday?" Soda turned for the first time to glare at Dallas.

"I feel like it." Dallas pleased that he had gotten some sort of response that wasn't grunted decided to quit stalling and get to the issue.

"Oh is that it, I though it had to do with some girl who left last week leaving you heart-broken." Soda glared at Dallas again before turning back to the episode of Mickey Mouse he had been watching.

"Shut up Dallas." Dallas smiled impishly; anger, that was something he could work with.

"I just don't get it she wasn't that great, sure she was pretty but that was it." He would feel Soda tense next to him, he was getting closer.

"I love her." Dallas rolled his eyes, love yeah right.

"Nah."

"Yes I do." Soda responded stubbornly. Dallas smirked while responding.

"No you didn't, you cared about her, yes, loved her, no."

"How the hell would you know?" Dallas froze, shit, he had not seen the conversation going this way. Soda turned to look at his silent friend, "Do you know?" Dallas turned away and said nothing; Soda was no good a evading questions and he was no good at lying to Soda. "You do. What's her name? Do I know her? Is it Sylvia? Its not is it?" Dallas was getting uncomfortable with this line of questioning. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go. He was supposed to convince Soda to move on, not end up thinking about _her_. He got up off the couch and walked to the door.

"I'm gunna go." Soda got up after him and followed him out to the sidewalk; at least he wasn't on the couch anymore. Why wasn't he on the couch anymore?

"Why are you following me? I thought you were moping today." Soda smiled at him, the first smile in days.

"Nope, you have given me a reason to get off the couch." His voice was cheery again. This was not good, he did not want to talk to Soda about this, he did not want to talk to Soda about _her,_ he did not want to talk to anyone about _her_.

"No, no." Soda was smiling again as he followed Dallas down the street.

"I am going to follow you around all day until you tell me." Crap, Dallas pulled out a cigarette; the situation was too stressful not to have one.

"There's nothing to tell." He tried to say convincingly as he lit up. Apparently it didn't work.

"Yes there is. So what's her name?" Dallas groaned, it was going to be a long day.

Six and a half hours later…

"What's her name?" Dallas clenched his fists as he turned around to glare at Soda.

"I will shoot you." Soda smiled at him as they walked through the door of the Curtis house. Two-Bit, Steve, Johnny and Pony were watching TV and Darrel was ordering a pizza for dinner.

"No you won't. Just tell me." Dallas sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day and wished Soda would just drop it.

"There is nothing to tell." The conversation had captured the attention of everyone else in the room so Two-Bit decided to ask.

"What's goin on? What won't he tell you?"

"Nothing, its nothing, there is NOTHING to tell."

"Come on Dal."

"Shut it Soda." Dallas glared at Soda but he chose to ignore it.

"Ok, so this morning Dallas was buggin me about Sandy and me being all heart-broken an' crap, then I tell him he doesn't know what love is and he gets all quiet and I look at him and realize he does know what love is, and Sylvia is not the girl he loves so I have been following him around all day askin him who she is."

They all sat there silently for a few minutes processing the new information before Steve smiled and spoke up.

"So Dal, who is she?" Dallas groaned and walked out onto the porch to smoke.


	3. always on my mind

Dallas continued to sit on the steps of the Curtis front porch smoking. It had been half an hour since he had stormed out of the house and he was on his fifth cigarette. The sun was beginning to set and a car pulled up in front of the house. A small-looking kid that Dallas sort of recognized got out and took three pizza boxes out of the back seat. He began to walk up the path until he looked up and saw Dallas. He froze in his place, Dallas still didn't know who the kid was but the kid obviously knew who he was. Dallas tried to ignore the kid fidgeting by the gate thinking if maybe he ignored him he would realize that he didn't want to beat him up, it didn't seem to be working. Finally, after five minutes, the screen door behind him opened and Darry came out to get the food.

"Sorry kid, he's in a bad mood."

"I-it's ok-okay." He managed to get out after a few tries.

"How much?"

"$34.85."

"Wow, we are gunna need to learn to cook. Here ya go."

"Th-thank you."

"Have a good night."

He nodded but was already halfway back to his car by the time Darry finished his sentence.

"You eatin Dal?"

Dallas shook his head and Darry nodded before going back inside. Dallas lit up his sixth cigarette of the night and watched the sun disappear behind the houses remembering watching the sunrise over the Brooklyn Bridge as _she_ rested her head against his shoulder.

* * *

Darry watched the pizza man pull up in front of the house. He went in the kitchen to get plates and expected a knock on the door any second. After five minutes went by, he looked out the window again and saw the poor kid standing frozen staring at Dallas, who was still sitting on the front porch. He grabbed his wallet and walked outside knowing there was no way the kid was getting any closer to Dally.

"Sorry kid, he's in a bad mood."

"I-it's ok-okay." The delivery boy stuttered his way through his sentence but seemed slightly more relaxed that he wasn't alone with Dallas anymore.

"How much?"

"$34.85." Damb, ordering out was burning a hole through his wallet.

"Wow, we are gunna need to learn to cook. Here ya go." He handed the kid the money and a tip that was bigger then he would normally give but normally the boy didn't have to face Dallas to deliver a pizza.

"Th-thank you." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he started walking back to his car.

"Have a good night." Darry watched him speed off before turning around to go in the house. Dallas was still sitting on the top step littering the front porch with used up Newport's.

"You eatin Dal?"

A small shake of his head was all he got in response but he wasn't expecting much. Dallas was deep in thought so he though it best to leave him to that. He nodded and went back inside.

As soon as he walked through the door, the pizza boxes were taken from him by Two-Bit.

"What the hell took you so damb long?" Steve yelled at him.

"Delivery boy was scared of Dal."

"So what we're starvin in here." Darry rolled his eyes, coming between Steve and food was never a good idea. He went in the kitchen to grab some drinks.

"Would you go near Dal right now?" Steve nodded, his mouth already full of his first slice. Two-Bit was down on the couch next to him sharing the box. Ponyboy and Johnny were eating out of the second box, which meant he was sharing with Soda. He didn't even know why he bothered getting plates out if they never used them. They ate in silence all trying to shovel the food down a quickly as possible.

When they were done, Darry threw the boxes away and spotted Dallas sitting in the same place he had been half an hour before. He walked back inside to try to get someone to go out and talk to him, he knew it would end up being Johnny but they needed to go through the process of asking everyone else first.

"What are we gunna do about Dal?"

"Leave 'im."

"He can't sit on the porch all night Steve."

"Sure he can."

"Why doesn't someone go talk to him?" Soda immediately shot out of his seat raising his hand.

"I'll-." Darry cut Soda off before he could even volunteer. His brother had been annoying Dal all day, he probably wouldn't last much longer without getting hit. Plus, he seemed to find the idea of going out to talk to their pissed off friend all to exciting if the wide grin on his face was anything to go by.

"But not Soda, I think he still wants to shoot you." He sunk back down into his chair knowing his big brother was right.

"You're probably right."

"Well I'm not doin it, I have no idea what to say." Ponyboy said, he liked Dallas but this was not something he wanted to get involved with, no matter how curious he was.

"I just don't want to." Two-Bit said.

"I'm not doing it, I'll say the wrong thing and he'll kill me." Steve said shaking his head; he was not going out there.

"Well I'm not gunna which leaves… Johnny." The kid looked at Darry with disbelief when he was nominated.

"Why is it always me?"

"Because you're his favorite." Steve said and Two-Bit added on helpfully.

"And he won't kill you."

"You all suck." Johnny mumbled before getting up and walking out the front door.

* * *

Johnny slowly pushed open the screen door trying not to startle Dallas. He shouldn't have worried about that.

"I'm not gunna hurt you Johnny."

Johnny jumped at the sound of his voice not expecting him to speak.

"How'd ya know it was me?"

"Who else would they send out?"

Johnny nodded and sat on the steps next to Dallas. He could see a pile of used cigarette butts on the step next to him and guessed that Dallas was almost out. He wanted to offer him a smoke to break the tension but Dallas wasn't even halfway finished with his. Instead, he decided that he would just say something and see what happened.

"So…" not exactly eloquent but it broke through the silence that had settled over the pair.

"So…" Dallas agreed.

"Look ya might not want to talk about it or her or whatever but you have been keepin' this in for five years and if ya need to talk I'm here."

Dallas nodded but said nothing. He just stubbed out his cigarette and ran a hand through his blonde hair. Johnny figured he need time to think so he started to get up. He was stopped by the sound of his friend's voice.

"Her name was Jessica Daniels well it probably still is." Johnny sat back down next to him but didn't say anything; he didn't want Dallas to stop talking. "I met her when I was eight. Even then she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen, still is. Her brown hair was knotted and it looked like she hadn't showered in a while. My mom brought her home because she had found her sleeping in an alley. Mom was a social worker, she couldn't resist a kid in need. Mom got her cleaned up and into some of my sister's clothes. When she came out, she was even prettier. She immediately took a liking to my little sister, I don't know if she had one at home, she never told me. She never said anything about her family. All she ever said was 'I needed to get away.' My mom tried to get her into a foster home because she wouldn't even tell us her last name; we had no idea who her parents were. No one had reported her missing; it was like no one cared she was gone. She was put into three foster homes by the time she was ten. She ran away from all of them her excuse was always, 'I needed to get away.' We got pretty close, when she would run, she used to crawl through my bedroom window and get into bed with me. I used to be a good kid, went to school, got good grades wanted to do something with my life, she always blamed herself for changing me, I think my parents blamed her too. She was a wild child, always getting into trouble never going to school and I can't remember the number of time the cops showed up on our doorstep with her. I started going with her when she would leave at night, we would walk around or go to the park. She loved the swings and I loved the way her long brown hair would flow after her when she was on them. She never wanted to get me into trouble I know that but I couldn't help it. I went with her when she would break in some place, just because she wanted to. We got into all kinds of trouble and I loved every minute of it. She had these green eyes, you could get lost in em." Dallas realized how long he had been talking; she always could make him lost control, even when she wasn't there. Johnny sensed the change in him and sat up straight. During the story, he had been staring at Dal watching the emotions play across his usually stoic face. "Long story short I loved her, she loved me but she's in New York and I'm not."

Johnny nodded knowing there was more to the story but he would probably never get it out of him.


End file.
